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Curriculum Overview

What is Belmont's current curriculum approach to the 2014 National Curriculum?

At Belmont we strive to provide our pupils with a broad, balanced highly challenging, exciting and creative curriculum. Our curriculum is designed to provide every learner with a rich learning experience that is carefully planned to meet the needs of individuals. English, maths, science and ICT all have a very high profile.

Our approach is based on enquiry learning; finding out the answer to a big question. The pupil voice is central to this approach as the children pose questions about what they want to explore in relation to the enquiry. These questions (our ‘wonderings’) determine the direction of the investigation and ensure that pupils are fully engaged in the learning journey.

A pupil’s learning journey each academic year includes a combination of whole school termly topics, projects and themed weeks. This themed approach motivates the children and creates enthusiasm for their learning. This approach also enables them to become increasingly independent.

Creative curriculum planning is truly inclusive at Belmont. It is a skills based curriculum for the 21st Century which links all subject areas and all age groups with a termly BIG topic question such as ‘Can we learn from our mistakes?’ (The Autumn term school transition question Sept 1st to 29th 2014)

Teachers make use of the pupil’s ‘Wonderings’ to shape and plan the termly topic. Every year group will investigate the same question which is adapted to suit their year group based on key skills. Through this method the school ensures clear progression across all year groups. Wherever possible all subjects are linked to the BIG question. However, some such as Religious Education and Physical Education are taught discretely.

At the start of each BIG question, a question topic curriculum wheel is distributed to all school stakeholders thus enabling the whole school community to become involved in Belmont’s learning journey. Year group A3 portfolios are collated to allow visitors and stakeholders to learn how pupils investigate their BIG questions through a wide variety of work in different subject areas.

Inspirational WOW days!

These are designed to ensure that learners are immediately ‘hooked’ by the Big Question and our new style Curriculum. The whole school takes part in a school Inspiration Day. This creates a powerful stimulus that immediately grabs the learner. We aim to make these days a rich starting point for forthcoming work as well as a memorable experience for all children.

International Primary Curriculum (IPC)

At Belmont, our foundation subjects are taught through the International Primary Curriculum (IPC). The IPC is a thematic and creative curriculum that provides pupils with a clear process of learning to enable them to develop their knowledge, skills and understanding across the foundation subjects. It promotes and embeds personal learning goals and allows pupils to develop their international mindedness.

Each themed unit is closely tailored to the National Curriculum and allows pupils to become inquisitive learners allowing pupils to form questions based on their IPC units to lead their own learning. Our Inspirational WOW Days are a key element to the IPC and act as a ‘hook’ into each unit, providing pupils have an engaging and rich starting point for forthcoming work as well as a memorable experience for all children.

Units are changed every half term and to provide a consistent approach to learning across the school, units are selected to create a subject focus. A school overview of IPC units and curriculum letters for each year group, detailing the learning content for each half term, are available on the website.

How can you find out more about our curriculum?

Parents and carers can find out more about our curriculum learning in their child's class through:

Half termly curriculum letters sent home (copies of these can also be requested from the school office)